Law students to advise art and design peers on degree show IP rights

A project to help art and design students protect their intellectual property (IP) during their final year degree shows has been awarded £24,980 as part of the Intellectual Property Office's (IPO) StudentshIP Enterprise Awards.

A project to help art and design students protect their intellectual property (IP) during their final year degree shows has been awarded £24,980 as part of the Intellectual Property Office's (IPO) StudentshIP Enterprise Awards.

Run by 15 students at Nottingham Law School, the Nottingham Creative Student IP project will promote commercial awareness of IP among students from the School of Art & Design and the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment as they embark on exhibiting their creative work to the public and industry for the first time.

During this year's Degree Show Festival at the University, the students, working as part of the School's Legal Advice Centre, will man an IP Health Check and Information stand where they will clarify and answer the most common IP issues that arise when displaying creative work at student degree shows, an educational yet entrepreneurial setting.

Guided by experienced IP lawyers and Nottingham Law School staff, the students will also offer follow-up support of free legal advice for more complex IP issues and tailored confidential reports using the UK Intellectual Property Office IP Health Check tool. They will also produce a Student Degree Shows and Creative IP guide.

Artists and designers have specific and well-established IP rights, but lack awareness of their impact in an entrepreneurial and commercial context.

Janice Denoncourt, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School

The Nottingham Creative Student IP proposal was chosen as one of 10 university student centric projects that will share £450,000 to improve understanding and exploitation of IP rights such as copyright, moral rights, design, trademarks and patents. It will be supported by the University's Business Development Team and is part of the wider Nottingham Creative IP project which helps local creative businesses to gain a better understanding of how they can more effectively protect, manage and exploit their ideas and intellectual property.

Janice Denoncourt, senior lecturer and IP expert at Nottingham Law School, developed the proposal with colleagues Jane Jarman and Nick Johnson. She said: "Artists and designers have specific and well-established IP rights but lack awareness of their impact in an entrepreneurial and commercial context. Raising awareness of the importance of valuable IP rights is crucial and, ultimately, this project aims to foster an IP culture that extends beyond the students' engagement with Nottingham Trent University as they embark on their careers and transition to a commercial setting"

Our economy is increasingly knowledge-based, as we now invest more in ideas and knowledge than in buildings or machinery.

Our economy is increasingly knowledge-based, as we now invest more in ideas and knowledge than in buildings or machinery.

Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe DBE, Minister for Intellectual Property

In 2012, a National Union of Students study, co-funded by the UK IPO, found that although 80% of students felt that knowledge of IP was important to their education and future career, only 40% thought their current awareness of IP was enough to support them in their future career. Students who were surveyed indicated that they wanted better access to information on IP but were not clear on how to obtain this information.

Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe DBE, Minister for Intellectual Property, presented the awards. She said: "Our economy is increasingly knowledge based, as we now invest more in ideas and knowledge than in buildings or machinery. Having an early working knowledge of intellectual property is crucial and we must foster the entrepreneurial capability of the next generation, to secure the UK's continued global competitiveness."

The StudentshIP Enterprise Awards encourage the practical application of IP skills by higher education students helping them to learn how to best apply IP skills within their chosen field and successfully protect the benefits of their creative ideas and inventions.

Degree Show FestivalFriday 26 May - Saturday 6 June 2015Nottingham Trent University will once again open its City site in a celebratory festival of art, design and innovation. Showcasing the original, innovative and inspiring work being produced within the internationally renowned School of Art & Design, and School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment at undergraduate level, the festival is always a highlight of the University's calendar.

Law students to advise art and design peers on degree show IP rights

Published on 13 March 2015

Category:
Business; Press office; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment; School of Art & Design; Nottingham Law School

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